Al-Anabi Racing, which has won each of the last two NHRA Top Fuel season championships, has been unusually quiet this season after replacing both drivers during the off-season.
On Saturday at the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals at zMax Dragway, the sleeping giant might have awakened after one of those new drivers; Shawn Langdon qualified No. 1 for Sunday's eliminations, which are the first of the Countdown, the NHRA's version of the playoffs.
"It's a good way to start off the Countdown, qualifying No. 1," Langdon said. "We're heading in the right direction. As long as we keep our heads on right, I don't think the pressure will get to us.
"We're shooting for a championship. That's our one and only goal."
Other No. 1s in Charlotte were Tim Wilkerson in Funny Car, Vincent Nobile in Pro Stock and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
Langdon ran a best lap of 3.807 seconds at 324.12 mph as he starts Sunday still on a quest for his first career Top Fuel victory.
"As a driver, there's always pressure to do well," Langdon said. "For Sheikh Khalid, we want to do well. He put together a great race team over here, and they've won the last couple of championships. Obviously, there's a track record behind it, and this team is built around winning.
"We haven't won this year, but we're heading in the right direction to achieve that, hopefully in a short amount of time – hopefully this weekend."
Landon said his team has collected a lot of good data already this weekend and is prepared for whatever might come their way on Sunday.
"The biggest thing we were working on today was just getting the car acclimated to the hot weather tune-up with the hotter track," he said. "We made a pretty decent run Friday night when the track conditions were a little better, but the conditions today will be a lot like tomorrow, I think.
"We have a little bit of work to do tomorrow, but fortunately we made a good run Friday night and (teammate Khalid) alBalooshi made two good runs today, so there's a lot of information that we'll be able to use for tomorrow."
Langdon starts the day against 86-year old Chris Karamesines, who qualified No. 16 with a best pass of 3.981 seconds at 301.27 mph in his Lucas Oil dragster.
Wilkerson and the Levi, Ray and Shoup Ford Mustang Funny Car qualified No. 1 for the first time this season. Wilkerson has been riding a recent hot streak that has helped get him into the Countdown and atop qualifying ladder on Saturday.
"Whenever you can start the Countdown picking up a few small qualifying points and with the No. 1 qualifier, it's a good step in the right direction," he said. "I told my guys when we started this deal was that we needed to win two rounds a weekend.
"If we can win two rounds a weekend, by the time we get to Pomona, they'll have to contend with us."
Wilkerson had a best pass of 4.048 seconds at 309.70 mph to earn the top spot. He goes up against the Tap It Brewing Chevy Impala driven by Todd Lesenko, which qualified No. 16 with a best lap of 4.313 seconds at 272.23 mph.
Nobile earned the first No. 1 of his career after piloting the Mountain View Tire Dodge Avenger to a lap of 6.548 seconds at 211.03 mph.
"My team and I are ecstatic about our first No. 1," Nobile said. "The car has been running good both today and yesterday. When you are in the show, it's anybody's game. So I'm going to go up there and do my own deal."
Nobile squares off against No. 16 qualifier Lewis Worden who made a best pass of 6.676 at 207.15 mph in the Cunningham Motorsports Ford Mustang.
Hines guided the Screamin' Eagle Harley-Davidson to a top pass of 6.851 seconds at 195.82 mph. There were only 15 bikes on the property and Hines gets a bye run in the first round.
"I've never had a planned first round bye," Hines said. "I have had opponents break before staging a couple of times and the starter will come over and give me the No. 1 finger. To know going in that we have a bye run is kind of nice. It's unfortunate for the class we didn't have a full field, but the chance to learn something we might not normally try on Sunday is going to be beneficial for us."
Hines will face the winner of the matchup between No. 8 qualifier Karen Stoffer and No. 9 Shawn Gann.
Eliminations at zMax Dragway get under way at noon EDT on Sunday.
SUNDAY'S PAIRINGS
Top Fuel -- 1. Shawn Langdon, 3.807 seconds, 324.12 mph vs. 16. Chris Karamesines, 3.981, 301.27; 2. Spencer Massey, 3.811, 322.73 vs. 15. Terry McMillen, 3.981, 308.78; 3. Tony Schumacher, 3.817, 320.05 vs. 14. David Grubnic, 3.916, 303.09; 4. Doug Kalitta, 3.818, 326.95 vs. 13. Clay Millican, 3.896, 313.07; 5. Brandon Bernstein, 3.822, 321.04 vs. 12. Cory McClenathan, 3.887, 318.32; 6. Morgan Lucas, 3.833, 321.35 vs. 11. Larry Dixon, 3.886, 311.99; 7. Khalid alBalooshi, 3.838, 322.81 vs. 10. Antron Brown, 3.861, 319.22; 8. Bob Vandergriff, 3.842, 322.73 vs. 9. Steve Torrence, 3.846, 322.50. Did Not Qualify: 17. Ike Maier, 3.990, 308.43; 18. Dom Lagana, 4.078, 280.84; 19. Pat Dakin, 4.086, 257.43.
Funny Car -- 1. Tim Wilkerson, Ford Mustang, 4.048, 309.70 vs. 16. Todd Lesenko, Chevy Impala, 4.313, 278.98; 2. Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger, 4.082, 309.56 vs. 15. Alexis DeJoria, Toyota Camry, 4.209, 295.79; 3. Mike Neff, Mustang, 4.093, 313.44 vs. 14. Johnny Gray, Charger, 4.182, 300.66; 4. Ron Capps, Charger, 4.096, 308.21 vs. 13. Jim Head, Toyota Solara, 4.137, 303.03; 5. Cruz Pedregon, Camry, 4.098, 305.08 vs. 12. Tony Pedregon, Camry, 4.133, 302.62; 6. Courtney Force, Mustang, 4.109, 309.70 vs. 11. John Force, Mustang, 4.133, 308.50; 7. Robert Hight, Mustang, 4.116, 308.99 vs. 10. Jeff Arend, Camry, 4.128, 308.21; 8. Matt Hagan, Charger, 4.123, 302.89 vs. 9. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 4.124, 307.09. Did Not Qualify: 17. Bob Gilbertson, 4.321, 284.33.
Pro Stock -- 1. Vincent Nobile, Dodge Avenger, 6.548, 211.03 vs. 16. Lewis Worden, Ford Mustang, 6.676, 207.15; 2. Jason Line, Chevy Camaro, 6.554, 211.63 vs. 15. Frank Gugliotta, Mustang, 6.650, 207.78; 3. Greg Anderson, Camaro, 6.560, 211.66 vs. 14. Shane Gray, Camaro, 6.629, 209.79; 4. Allen Johnson, Avenger, 6.563, 211.56 vs. 13. Jeg Coughlin, Avenger, 6.607, 209.88; 5. Mike Edwards, Pontiac GXP, 6.564, 212.23 vs. 12. Ronnie Humphrey, GXP, 6.606, 210.24; 6. Erica Enders, Chevy Cobalt, 6.566, 210.77 vs. 11. Warren Johnson, GXP, 6.598, 209.82; 7. Ron Krisher, GXP, 6.580, 210.50 vs. 10. Larry Morgan, Mustang, 6.595, 209.46; 8. Dave Connolly, Cobalt, 6.582, 210.70 vs. 9. V. Gaines, Avenger, 6.592, 210.64. Did Not Qualify: 17. John Gaydosh Jr, 7.011, 197.16; 18. Kurt Johnson, 8.002, 209.17.
Pro Stock Motorcycle -- 1. Andrew Hines, Harley-Davidson, 6.851, 195.82 vs. Bye; 2. Eddie Krawiec, Harley-Davidson, 6.853, 195.85 vs. 15. LE Tonglet, Suzuki, 7.106, 187.16; 3. Hector Arana Jr, Buell, 6.854, 195.14 vs. 14. Chip Ellis, Buell, 7.062, 189.73; 4. Hector Arana, Buell, 6.881, 194.66 vs. 13. Michael Phillips, Suzuki, 7.008, 191.00; 5. Matt Smith, Buell, 6.912, 193.35 vs. 12. Steve Johnson, Suzuki, 6.997, 189.15; 6. Michael Ray, Buell, 6.931, 192.66 vs. 11. Jim Underdahl, Suzuki, 6.993, 192.41; 7. John Hall, Buell, 6.941, 191.21 vs. 10. Scotty Pollacheck, Buell, 6.971, 190.11; 8. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.963, 192.11 vs. 9. Shawn Gann, Buell, 6.963, 192.74.
